Surf for love and not for gold, says Pulitzer
Prize-winning writer Bill Finnegan…
Who has given us more precious insight into the game of
surf than the New York-based, Pulitzer Prize winning
writer Bill Finnegan? His memoir Barbarian
Days treats surf as love affair, as fundamental
do-or-die. I believe there is no better book on surf and
destiny and man’s natural urges.
Read about Bill
here.
Today, in the New York Times, very prestigious in some eyes, or,
in the words of Gavin McInnes: “New York
Times readers wear J.Crew blazers and long for a world
where black people would be their friend” Bill cast his eye on the
relationship between being paid to surf and just surfing for
the laughs.
Here’s a taste.
“Organized competition is entirely peripheral to surfing qua
surfing. People surf for love. The pastime lends itself to
obsession. Surfers travel to the ends of the earth to find great,
remote waves. I spent much of my 20s chasing waves through the
Southern Hemisphere. Most surfers have home breaks that they come
to know at a subgranular level of detail. Committed surfing is a
deep immersion, literal and philosophical, in the ocean. The goal,
if there is a goal, is a certain drenching experience of beauty.
It’s quite possible to surf for decades without laying eyes on a
surf contest.
More visibly, there is an international pro tour, on which some
of the world’s best surfers perform occasional miracles in
30-minute heats. The judging is wonky, obtuse, subjective. Surfing
is, after all, more like dance than it is like baseball. Then
there’s the ocean. If the waves are good, the contest will be good…
If the waves are crummy, the contest will be unwatchable.
“But, with increased popularity, a slapdash
competitive structure, different in each surf region, has
developed. More visibly, there is an international pro tour, on
which some of the world’s best surfers perform occasional miracles
in 30-minute heats. The judging is wonky, obtuse, subjective.
Surfing is, after all, more like dance than it is like baseball.
Then there’s the ocean. If the waves are good, the contest will be
good — and in that case I will probably be in the global audience,
glued to the live-stream, waiting for something transcendent to
happen. If the waves are crummy, the contest will be
unwatchable.
“Surfing photographs well. It makes
mesmerizing video. It is not, however, a spectator sport. With the
exception of a few spots, on random days — contest organizers
struggle to find just these spots and days — it is wildly boring to
watch. The action is hard to see from shore, and there’s usually
not much of it. Lulls between waves are long, rides mostly short
and unexciting. Surfers themselves can watch waves for hours, but
they’re accustomed to lulls. Everybody else is much happier with
the highlight reel.”
Later, he begs for surfing to become
uncool. It’s an incisive piece.
Read the full story
here.
